We are now three years into the SMX system and SMX playoffs. The series currently uses Single-Double-Triple points system for the three playoff rounds. I personally have never been a fan of this system as it seems pretty gimmiky, and furthermore, it makes the pre-playoff seeding and first round matter far less.
So would things be any different with a single points system (no multipliers on the standard points total)?
Time to find out. I’ll compare 2023, 2024 and 2025 for both the 250 and 450 class. I’ll also compare how this would have changed the money payouts for each year to see how much money the single-double-triple points systems has “cost” riders.
Just to be clear on the math, for this analysis I am keeping the regular season seeding points and then every round counts for the same amount of points. 25 for the win, 22 for second, 20 for third, etc.
2023
450 Class
| Rider | Normal Points | Points Rank | Single Points | Single Points Rank | Pos Change |
| Jett Lawrence | 163 | 1 | 88 | 1 | 0 |
| Chase Sexton | 126 | 3 | 82 | 2 | +1 |
| Ken Roczen | 146 | 2 | 80 | 3 | -1 |
| Aaron Plessinger | 104 | 5 | 66 | 4 | +1 |
| Cooper Webb | 120 | 4 | 65 | 5 | -1 |
| Jason Anderson | 91 | 8 | 56 | 6 | +2 |
| Dylan Ferrandis | 71 | 13 | 54 | 7 | +6 |
| Adam Cianciarulo | 96 | 6 | 51 | 8 | -2 |
| Garrett Marchbanks | 92 | 7 | 49 | 9 | -2 |
| Colt Nichols | 90 | 9 | 44 | 10 | -1 |
| Ty Masterpool | 84 | 10 | 44 | 11 | -1 |
| Justin Barcia | 59 | 14 | 43 | 12 | +2 |
| Fredrik Noren | 79 | 11 | 43 | 13 | -2 |
| Phil Nicoletti | 76 | 12 | 36 | 14 | -2 |
| Grant Harlan | 44 | 15 | 28 | 15 | +0 |
| Kyle Chisholm | 40 | 17 | 21 | 16 | +1 |
| Shane McElrath | 40 | 16 | 20 | 17 | -1 |
| Justin Hill | 31 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 0 |
| Dean Wilson | 31 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 0 |
| Eli Tomac | 13 | 23 | 13 | 20 | +3 |
| Josh Hill | 25 | 20 | 11 | 21 | -1 |
| Jerry Robin | 22 | 21 | 9 | 22 | -1 |
| Jeremy Hand | 18 | 22 | 8 | 23 | -1 |
| Kevin Moranz | 4 | 24 | 2 | 24 | 0 |
| Jace Kessler | 0 | 25 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
For 2023 in the 450 class, Jett stays the winner. Chase Sexton would have held on to second place swapping with Ken Roczen. Most riders change 1 or 2 positions is this, however, Dylan Ferrandis would have finished 6 places higher in a single points system. Eli Tomac would have finished in the Top 20 based on his regular season seeded points.
250 Class
| Rider | Normal Points | Points Rank | Single Points | Single Points Rank | Pos Change |
| Haiden Deegan | 157 | 1 | 87 | 1 | 0 |
| Jo Shimoda | 152 | 2 | 86 | 2 | 0 |
| Levi Kitchen | 114 | 4 | 66 | 3 | +1 |
| Hunter Lawrence | 89 | 9 | 64 | 4 | +5 |
| RJ Hampshire | 122 | 3 | 64 | 5 | -2 |
| Jordon Smith | 110 | 5 | 62 | 6 | -1 |
| Tom Vialle | 90 | 8 | 58 | 7 | +1 |
| Justin Cooper | 101 | 6 | 55 | 8 | -2 |
| Max Vohland | 98 | 7 | 55 | 9 | -2 |
| Jalek Swoll | 88 | 10 | 48 | 10 | 0 |
| Ryder DiFrancesco | 72 | 12 | 47 | 11 | +1 |
| Pierce Brown | 86 | 11 | 45 | 12 | -1 |
| Seth Hammaker | 49 | 15 | 34 | 13 | +2 |
| Dilan Schwartz | 61 | 13 | 32 | 14 | -1 |
| Talon Hawkins | 58 | 14 | 30 | 15 | -1 |
| Cullin Park | 41 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 0 |
| Caden Braswell | 29 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 0 |
| Max Anstie | 14 | 21 | 14 | 18 | +3 |
| Jett Lawrence | 12 | 22 | 12 | 19 | +3 |
| Preston Kilroy | 25 | 19 | 10 | 20 | -1 |
| Mitchell Oldenburg | 27 | 18 | 9 | 21 | -3 |
| Austin Forkner | 9 | 23 | 9 | 22 | +1 |
| Coty Schock | 25 | 20 | 9 | 23 | -3 |
| Carson Mumford | 7 | 25 | 7 | 24 | +1 |
| Derek Kelley | 9 | 24 | 3 | 25 | -1 |
| Hunter Yoder | 6 | 26 | 3 | 26 | 0 |
| Chris Blose | 6 | 27 | 2 | 27 | 0 |
| Luke Neese | 4 | 28 | 2 | 28 | 0 |
| Chance Hymas | 2 | 30 | 2 | 29 | +1 |
| Joshua Varize | 2 | 29 | 1 | 30 | -1 |
No change at the top two positions, but only one point would have separated Haiden Deegan and Jo Shimoda in 2023! With Hunter Lawrence getting hurt, he would have finished 5 positions higher in 2023 with single points.
2024
450 Class
| Rider | Normal Points | Points Rank | Single Points | Single Points Rank | Pos Change |
| Hunter Lawrence | 156 | 2 | 87 | 1 | +1 |
| Jett Lawrence | 156 | 1 | 86 | 2 | -1 |
| Eli Tomac | 129 | 3 | 71 | 3 | 0 |
| Chase Sexton | 89 | 7 | 67 | 4 | +3 |
| Aaron Plessinger | 116 | 4 | 65 | 5 | -1 |
| Cooper Webb | 109 | 5 | 58 | 6 | -1 |
| Ken Roczen | 103 | 6 | 57 | 7 | -1 |
| Justin Cooper | 81 | 8 | 49 | 8 | +0 |
| Dylan Ferrandis | 78 | 9 | 47 | 9 | +0 |
| Jason Anderson | 72 | 11 | 42 | 10 | +1 |
| Malcolm Stewart | 48 | 17 | 39 | 11 | +6 |
| Justin Barcia | 75 | 10 | 37 | 12 | -2 |
| Shane Mcelrath | 67 | 12 | 36 | 13 | -1 |
| Colt Nichols | 55 | 14 | 31 | 14 | 0 |
| Marshal Weltin | 52 | 15 | 28 | 15 | 0 |
| Fredrik Noren | 51 | 16 | 27 | 16 | 0 |
| Harri Kullas | 57 | 13 | 26 | 17 | -4 |
| Christian Craig | 34 | 20 | 26 | 18 | +2 |
| Grant Harlan | 36 | 18 | 19 | 19 | -1 |
| Dean Wilson | 36 | 19 | 17 | 20 | -1 |
| Phil Nicoletti | 28 | 21 | 17 | 21 | 0 |
| Kyle Chisholm | 21 | 22 | 11 | 22 | 0 |
| Jerry Robin | 13 | 23 | 7 | 23 | 0 |
| Cullin Park | 3 | 24 | 1 | 24 | 0 |
| Justin Hill | 0 | 25 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
A championship change! In a single points system, Hunter Lawrence would have finished as the winner! Once again Sexton would have improved given he crashed out. Malcolm Stewart would have improved by 6 positions as well.
250 Class
| Rider | Normal Points | Points Rank | Single Points | Single Points Rank | Pos Change |
| Haiden Deegan | 166 | 1 | 97 | 1 | 0 |
| Tom Vialle | 132 | 2 | 76 | 2 | 0 |
| Jo Shimoda | 130 | 4 | 74 | 3 | +1 |
| Levi Kitchen | 120 | 6 | 74 | 4 | +2 |
| Jordon Smith | 124 | 5 | 68 | 5 | 0 |
| Pierce Brown | 131 | 3 | 66 | 6 | -3 |
| Julien Beaumer | 108 | 7 | 65 | 7 | 0 |
| Max Anstie | 97 | 8 | 53 | 8 | 0 |
| Ty Masterpool | 88 | 9 | 47 | 9 | 0 |
| Ryder DiFrancesco | 72 | 11 | 41 | 10 | +1 |
| Cameron McAdoo | 72 | 10 | 38 | 11 | -1 |
| Garrett Marchbanks | 71 | 12 | 37 | 12 | 0 |
| Nick Romano | 52 | 13 | 31 | 13 | 0 |
| RJ Hampshire | 36 | 16 | 29 | 14 | +2 |
| Coty Schock | 51 | 14 | 29 | 15 | -1 |
| Chance Hymas | 23 | 19 | 23 | 16 | +3 |
| Jett Reynolds | 37 | 15 | 16 | 17 | -2 |
| Talon Hawkins | 36 | 17 | 15 | 18 | -1 |
| Lux Turner | 33 | 18 | 15 | 19 | -1 |
| Jalek Swoll | 14 | 21 | 14 | 20 | +1 |
| Henry Miller | 23 | 20 | 9 | 21 | -1 |
| Daxton Bennick | 8 | 23 | 8 | 22 | +1 |
| Carson Mumford | 5 | 25 | 5 | 23 | +2 |
| Joey Savatgy | 5 | 26 | 5 | 24 | +2 |
| Casey Cochran | 4 | 28 | 4 | 25 | +3 |
| Matti Jorgensen | 9 | 22 | 3 | 26 | -4 |
| Nate Thrasher | 3 | 29 | 3 | 27 | +2 |
| Robbie Wageman | 6 | 24 | 2 | 28 | -4 |
| Maxwell Sanford | 4 | 27 | 2 | 29 | -2 |
| Ryder Floyd | 3 | 30 | 1 | 30 | 0 |
| Cole Thompson | 2 | 31 | 1 | 31 | 0 |
Not much change here for the 250 class in 2024. The only real change is Pierce Brown was a big beneficiary of winning the final round overall. So in a single points system he would have finished 6th instead of 3rd.
2025
450 Class
| Rider | Normal Points | Points Rank | Single Points | Single Points Rank | Pos Change |
| Jett Lawrence | 166 | 1 | 94 | 1 | 0 |
| Hunter Lawrence | 151 | 2 | 82 | 2 | 0 |
| Eli Tomac | 135 | 3 | 75 | 3 | 0 |
| Justin Cooper | 115 | 5 | 67 | 4 | +1 |
| Cooper Webb | 112 | 6 | 65 | 5 | +1 |
| Ken Roczen | 117 | 4 | 63 | 6 | -2 |
| Chase Sexton | 92 | 8 | 61 | 7 | +1 |
| RJ Hampshire | 109 | 7 | 61 | 8 | -1 |
| Justin Barcia | 86 | 10 | 49 | 9 | +1 |
| Joey Savatgy | 89 | 9 | 48 | 10 | -1 |
| Dylan Ferrandis | 66 | 11 | 42 | 11 | 0 |
| Justin Hill | 62 | 12 | 31 | 12 | 0 |
| Benny Bloss | 57 | 13 | 29 | 13 | 0 |
| Shane Mcelrath | 54 | 14 | 28 | 14 | 0 |
| Valentin Guillod | 49 | 16 | 27 | 15 | +1 |
| Coty Schock | 52 | 15 | 23 | 16 | -1 |
| Malcolm Stewart | 20 | 19 | 20 | 17 | +2 |
| Aaron Plessinger | 14 | 22 | 14 | 18 | +4 |
| Dean Wilson | 23 | 17 | 12 | 19 | -2 |
| Marshal Weltin | 21 | 18 | 9 | 20 | -2 |
| Mitchell Harrison | 14 | 21 | 9 | 21 | 0 |
| Jorge Prado | 9 | 24 | 9 | 22 | +2 |
| Mitchell Oldenburg | 11 | 23 | 8 | 23 | 0 |
| Harri Kullas | 15 | 20 | 7 | 24 | -4 |
| Jason Anderson | 7 | 25 | 7 | 25 | 0 |
| Colt Nichols | 5 | 27 | 5 | 26 | +1 |
| Derek Drake | 6 | 26 | 2 | 27 | -1 |
| Kyle Chisholm | 4 | 28 | 2 | 28 | 0 |
| Grant Harlan | 3 | 29 | 1 | 29 | 0 |
| Jeremy Hand | 1 | 30 | 1 | 30 | 0 |
| Romain Pape | 0 | 31 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
Not a ton of change here other than a few riders shifting here and there.
250 Class
| Rider | Normal Points | Points Rank | Single Points | Single Points Rank | Pos Change |
| Jo Shimoda | 167 | 1 | 92 | 1 | 0 |
| Seth Hammaker | 144 | 2 | 78 | 2 | 0 |
| Haiden Deegan | 116 | 5 | 74 | 3 | +2 |
| Tom Vialle | 127 | 3 | 70 | 4 | -1 |
| Nate Thrasher | 118 | 4 | 62 | 5 | -1 |
| Levi Kitchen | 77 | 9 | 49 | 6 | +3 |
| Jordon Smith | 96 | 7 | 49 | 7 | 0 |
| Ty Masterpool | 99 | 6 | 47 | 8 | -2 |
| Garrett Marchbanks | 81 | 8 | 43 | 9 | -1 |
| Drew Adams | 55 | 13 | 33 | 10 | +3 |
| Ryder DiFrancesco | 41 | 16 | 32 | 11 | +5 |
| Daxton Bennick | 65 | 10 | 31 | 12 | -2 |
| Cole Davies | 41 | 17 | 30 | 13 | +4 |
| Dilan Schwartz | 61 | 11 | 30 | 14 | -3 |
| Max Anstie | 50 | 15 | 27 | 15 | 0 |
| Austin Forkner | 25 | 20 | 25 | 16 | +4 |
| Max Vohland | 24 | 21 | 24 | 17 | +4 |
| Lux Turner | 56 | 12 | 23 | 18 | -6 |
| Cullin Park | 51 | 14 | 23 | 19 | -5 |
| Parker Ross | 41 | 18 | 19 | 20 | -2 |
| Julien Beaumer | 15 | 22 | 15 | 21 | +1 |
| Michael Mosiman | 12 | 25 | 12 | 22 | +3 |
| Gage Linville | 26 | 19 | 11 | 23 | -4 |
| Chance Hymas | 10 | 26 | 10 | 24 | +2 |
| Mikkel Haarup | 9 | 28 | 9 | 25 | +3 |
| Henry Miller | 13 | 23 | 5 | 26 | -3 |
| Cole Thompson | 13 | 24 | 5 | 27 | -3 |
| Hunter Yoder | 9 | 27 | 4 | 28 | -1 |
| Justin Rodbell | 6 | 29 | 2 | 29 | 0 |
| RJ Hampshire | 2 | 30 | 2 | 30 | 0 |
A bit more change in the 250 class, but not at the top of the standings, there are some bigger swings in the mid pack. Haiden Deegan would have held onto third had there been single points.
Money Impact
Given that the SMX series uses olympic styling scoring for the overalls at each individual race, a single points system wouldn’t change any of the overalls so I won’t be including individual race payouts on this next analysis. This will only include championship finish payout.
I will be comparing the net payouts over the last three years in both classes. I will first sort it by how much money riders would have “gained” by having a single points system.
450 Class 2023-2025
| Rider | Net Positions +/- | Net Money Change |
| Hunter Lawrence | +1 | $500,000.00 |
| Chase Sexton | +5 | $350,000.00 |
| Dylan Ferrandis | +6 | $86,000.00 |
| Jason Anderson | +3 | $60,000.00 |
| Justin Cooper | +1 | $50,000.00 |
| Eli Tomac | +3 | $27,000.00 |
| Jorge Prado | +2 | $25,000.00 |
| Malcolm Stewart | +8 | $22,000.00 |
| Aaron Plessinger | +4 | $4,000.00 |
| Christian Craig | +2 | $2,000.00 |
| Kyle Chisholm | +1 | $1,000.00 |
| Valentin Guillod | +1 | $1,000.00 |
| Justin Hill | 0 | $0.00 |
| Kevin Moranz | 0 | $0.00 |
| Jace Kessler | 0 | $0.00 |
| Cullin Park | 0 | $0.00 |
| Benny Bloss | 0 | $0.00 |
| Mitchell Harrison | 0 | $0.00 |
| Mitchell Oldenburg | 0 | $0.00 |
| Romain Pape | 0 | $0.00 |
| Derek Drake | -1 | $0.00 |
| Grant Harlan | -1 | -$1,000.00 |
| Josh Hill | -1 | -$1,000.00 |
| Jerry Robin | -1 | -$1,000.00 |
| Coty Schock | -1 | -$1,000.00 |
| Phil Nicoletti | -2 | -$2,000.00 |
| Shane McElrath | -2 | -$2,000.00 |
| Marshal Weltin | -2 | -$2,000.00 |
| Dean Wilson | -3 | -$3,000.00 |
| Colt Nichols | 0 | -$15,000.00 |
| Joey Savatgy | -1 | -$15,000.00 |
| Fredrik Noren | -2 | -$16,000.00 |
| RJ Hampshire | -1 | -$20,000.00 |
| Justin Barcia | +1 | -$23,000.00 |
| Ty Masterpool | -1 | -$25,000.00 |
| Jeremy Hand | -1 | -$25,000.00 |
| Garrett Marchbanks | -2 | -$30,000.00 |
| Harri Kullas | -8 | -$31,000.00 |
| Adam Cianciarulo | -2 | -$35,000.00 |
| Cooper Webb | -1 | -$50,000.00 |
| Ken Roczen | -4 | -$330,000.00 |
| Jett Lawrence | -1 | -$500,000.00 |
Using a single points system would have made Hunter Lawrence $500k more money. This is from the change in winning the 2024 title, on the flipside, this points system would have cost Jett $500k as well.
Next is Chase Sexton who would have made an additional $350K using single points. Ken Roczen has been a strong beneficiary of the 1x 2x 3x points as he has been strong at round 3. Switching to single points would have cost Kenny $330k.
250 Class 2023-2025
The 250 class has smaller prize pool so the numbers will be somewhat smaller.
| Rider | Net Positions | Net Money |
| Levi Kitchen | +6 | $184,000.00 |
| Haiden Deegan | +2 | $100,000.00 |
| Hunter Lawrence | +5 | $84,000.00 |
| Ryder DiFrancesco | +7 | $7,000.00 |
| Austin Forkner | +5 | $6,000.00 |
| Cole Davies | +4 | $4,000.00 |
| Jett Lawrence | +3 | $4,000.00 |
| Max Anstie | +3 | $4,000.00 |
| Max Vohland | +2 | $3,000.00 |
| Drew Adams | +3 | $3,000.00 |
| Chance Hymas | +6 | $3,000.00 |
| Michael Mosiman | +3 | $2,000.00 |
| Jalek Swoll | +1 | $2,000.00 |
| Seth Hammaker | +2 | $2,000.00 |
| Julien Beaumer | +1 | $1,000.00 |
| Jo Shimoda | +1 | $0.00 |
| Caden Braswell | 0 | $0.00 |
| Carson Mumford | +3 | $0.00 |
| Chris Blose | 0 | $0.00 |
| Derek Kelley | -1 | $0.00 |
| Hunter Yoder | -1 | $0.00 |
| Joshua Varize | -1 | $0.00 |
| Luke Neese | 0 | $0.00 |
| Nick Romano | 0 | $0.00 |
| Joey Savatgy | +2 | $0.00 |
| Casey Cochran | +3 | $0.00 |
| Maxwell Sanford | -2 | $0.00 |
| Robbie Wageman | -4 | $0.00 |
| Cole Thompson | -3 | $0.00 |
| Ryder Floyd | 0 | $0.00 |
| Justin Rodbell | 0 | $0.00 |
| Mikkel Haarup | +3 | $0.00 |
| Daxton Bennick | -1 | $0.00 |
| Preston Kilroy | -1 | -$1,000.00 |
| Garrett Marchbanks | -1 | -$1,000.00 |
| Cameron McAdoo | -1 | -$1,000.00 |
| Henry Miller | -4 | -$2,000.00 |
| Jett Reynolds | -2 | -$2,000.00 |
| Parker Ross | -2 | -$2,000.00 |
| Matti Jorgensen | -4 | -$2,000.00 |
| Talon Hawkins | -2 | -$3,000.00 |
| Mitchell Oldenburg | -3 | -$4,000.00 |
| Dilan Schwartz | -4 | -$4,000.00 |
| Cullin Park | -5 | -$5,000.00 |
| Coty Schock | -4 | -$6,000.00 |
| Lux Turner | -7 | -$6,000.00 |
| Gage Linville | -4 | -$6,000.00 |
| Justin Cooper | -2 | -$8,000.00 |
| Ty Masterpool | -2 | -$8,000.00 |
| Jordon Smith | -1 | -$25,000.00 |
| Tom Vialle | 0 | -$49,000.00 |
| Nate Thrasher | +1 | -$50,000.00 |
| RJ Hampshire | 0 | -$98,000.00 |
| Pierce Brown | -4 | -$126,000.00 |
Given the changes, Levi Kitchen, Haiden Deegan and Hunter Lawrence would be large beneficiaries of single points. Kitchen would have made an additional $186K. All of Hunter’s benefits of single points come from just one year – 2023. The big loser in this points system would be Pierce Brown. Switching to single points would have cost him 126K.
Takeaways
The championship would only change in one instance with single points – 2024 with Hunter Lawrence. However, the championships are still just as close and in some cases closer with single points. The 2023 250 title would have come down to just one point. It appears that the 1x 2x 3x system isn’t necessary for close title matchups for the final round.
The motive for 1x 2x 3x points is to always have the title up for grabs in the last round – which makes sense from an entertainment standpoint. However, changing the points in a racing series for certain rounds still just seems way too gimmicky to me and the series would be just as well off in a single points system. I think 1x 2x 3x de-emphasizes the regular season seeding points and round 1 too heavily.
With how crazy motocross can be and with so much out of your own control in a three race series (mechanical issues, getting caught in a first turn pileup, etc), I don’t think its fair that if someone suffers a mechanical in round 3, they get “punished” more for it in round 3, rather than it happening in round 1.
If we are going to say that certain rounds are more important than others (due to the amount of points you can get), then it shouldn’t be with points. I think an elimination style system would be better suited for this. And again, its only a three round series that we are calling a proper championship!
Thanks for reading! Any questions, hit me up on Instagram and Twitter: @MXReference
